French Muslim girls lose veil case at European court

Kyiv Post ^ | 12/11/08 | Staff

[mick]

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Europe's human rights court on Thursday threw out a complaint by two French Muslim girls who were expelled from their school for refusing to remove their headscarves during sports lessons.

[mick]

Euro Weenies getting a stiffer spine ?

[ScottinVA]

HA HA!!!

[Niuhuru]

Perhaps they’re fed up with all the Muslim trouble and the demands. They’ll be fighting back with bread rolls soon.

[vimto]

Not much good news from our Dhimmi politicos and judges so this has to be celebrated!

.....”Oh, and Pierre Ahmed but down that Machete!”

[musicman]

"French Muslim girls lose veil case at European court"

[Redbob]

There’s still hope for Europe.

Wonder if the recent events in Bombay were considered?

[samtheman]

There’s still hope for Europe.

Not much, but a little. A very thin ray of hope.

[Into the Vortex]

Give an inch, they'll take a mile. If they love their muslim customs so damn much, they should stay in their sandbox.

[Boiling Pots]

The “Euroweenies” (sans the UK) all seem to have stiffer spines than us in regards to kowtowing to local Mohammedan populations.

[keats5]

Good for them.

Today it's a scarf.
Tomorrow it's a burka.
The next day it's a terrorist hidden under a burka.
Then it's Sharai law for all of us.

[PalestrinaGal0317]

I see no reason to keep the girls from wearing these scarves. Burkas could be considered a security risk in schools (if you can't see someone's face, you can't tell who they are), and long skirts being required during sports activities could lead to injury. Hair being covered--and rather neatly at that--I do not see as a risk to Western Civilization As We Know It. Would we throw an equal fit if, for example, a Mennonite or conservative Pentacostal (I seem to recall that there are denominations of such that ask women to cover their hair--if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me) girl wanted to keep her hair covered out of modesty?

Furthermore, I imagine that a fair number of folks here would spontaneously combust if their kids were told not to wear crosses or crucifixes to school (not allowed in France either, I would presume), or if their daughters were required to wear low-rise jeans with midriff-baring shirts.

[Into the Vortex]

Sorry, I misunderstood your post.

[PalestrinaGal0317]

Really? With that sort of logic, one might assume that

Today it’s wanting to not attend school/work on Good Friday.
Tomorrow it’s insisting that no one else work (no matter how necessary the work) on Good Friday.
The next day it’s the Inquisition (and nobody expects that!).
Then all non-Catholics will be burned at the stake.

If these were Hassidic Jews, would you object to their daughters wearing long sleeves or covering their hair?
If these were Pentecostal girls, would you object to these girls wearing long skirts (at times other than sports activities, that is)?
If these were Mennonite girls, would you object to their wearing kerchiefs over their hair?

Hair scarves are different from burkas. Wear a burka, and no one can tell who’s in there/what’s in there, and they just aren’t safe to run about in. Wearing a scarf or cross ring (the latter not during sports, perhaps) or Star of David necklace will not be a security risk, and nor will it impose Sharia law upon the rest of us. I’d be ticked off if they expected everyone else to conform to their standards. They aren’t.

[Into the Vortex]

“Would we throw an equal fit if, for example, a Mennonite or conservative Pentacostal (I seem to recall that there are denominations of such that ask women to cover their hair—if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me) girl wanted to keep her hair covered out of modesty?”

When Mennonite,Pentecostal or any other sect begin stoning their women to DEATH for showing to much ankle for Ezekiel to take, we'll havta look into it.

It's not the scarf-it’s everything else that comes with it.

[Ranger45]

It is illegal is germany to wear nazi symbols. Same thing here

[PalestrinaGal0317]

Oh, I'm no supporter of the "stoning women to death" policy, I assure you. Yet I would point out that within the whole of the Muslim religion there are varying opinions/takes on women's rights. The fact that these girls are going to school sort of indicates that their parents are not quite so radical as certain others who belong to the same religion.

"It's not the scarf--it's everything else that comes with it?" Could not the same be said about a cross necklace, or a kid who carries a Testament to school? Couldn't it be argued that that cross could symbolize a) a religion that actually is about peace, love, and kindness, b) a Man who died so that we might live, or c) fundamentalist Christian thought that places women in a position not very dissimilar to their Muslim sisters insofar as rights and education?

(No, I'm not saying that all fundamentalist Christians don't allow their daughters to enter higher education. I'm saying that there are certain groups who do, just as there are portions of the Muslim population who hate us all. It isn't right to judge all Christians as those fundamentalists, and the same is true of Muslims.)

[PalestrinaGal0317]

So perhaps we should not wear crosses, because to do so might bring up the rather testy subject of the Crusades?

The swastika has many horrors associated with it, and I'd never wear it. I'd argue that individual businesses or schools may choose to ban it, as they could choose to ban Black Panther/KKK/insert group with Really Bad History here emblems. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion (provided that neither cause harm to another party) are fairly important principles.

And no, the First Amendment isn't applicable in this situation. Would that it were.

[mick]

You know, you make a good point. I am old enough to remember that women always covered their head at Catholic Mass. The purpose being to cover what is the "glory" of woman...ie: her hair.

I also seem to remember from my reading of history a time in this country when women believed that modesty of dress required her to wear a bonnet or hat.

We have major issues with the Muslim people but their attempt to preserve what they consider to be modest dress shouldn't be one of them.

But as you say, the face must be uncovered as a security precaution